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Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid

Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid

Blueberries and cream cheese wrapped in a sweet yeasted dough. Yes, it really is as good as it sounds, and it is making me hungry again just sitting here thinking about it.

The recipe and a lot more picture below.

This dough is a wonderful one from Beth Hensperger's The Bread Bible. I like it because it is sweet and rich without being too rich. Any sweet dough will do though.

Hensperger suggests making a raspberry filling and sprinkling a streusal on top instead of using egg wash. That, too, sounds excellent, I just happened to have a bunch of extra blueberries in the freezer and some extra cream cheese in the fridge so I modified the recipe to fit my needs. Obviously, you should adapt this to use whatever you enjoy the most, have easy access to, or have an excess of.

I think you could do a wonderful savory version of the recipe if you used a less sweet dough. Think about something along the lines of a mushroom braid with Swiss cheese, or a pesto and parmesan braid, or a sausage and onion braid. Hm? Any of them sound good? Well, they do to me.

For the sponge: mix the sugar, yeast, and flour together in bowl. Pour in the warm milk. Beat until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1/2 hour.

Add the eggs, salt, sugar, and one cup of the flour to the sponge. Beat until smooth. Then add the butter in small chunks and beat well. Add the remaining flour a handful at a time and mix in until a soft but kneadable dough is achieved and the butter thoroughly incorporated.

Knead the dough by hand or with a mixer until it is smooth and satiny, about 5 minutes.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise and room temperature until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Deflate the dough, recover the bowl, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, make the fillings before shaping the loaves.

Blueberry Filling: combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let cool.Egg Glaze: combine the egg and milk in a bowl and beat until combined.Cream Cheese Filling: combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix until combined

Once your filling has cooled off, take the dough out of the refrigerator and gently deflate it. Divide it into two pieces. Use a rolling pin to shape each piece into a thin (1 cm.) rectangle.

Spread your fillings in the center of the dough.

At an angle, slice the sides of the dough into tabs approximately 1 inch wide.

Alternating from side to side, fold the pieces in over the filling. When possible, gentle press on the tabs to seal the folds.

After it has been fully folded, glaze the braid with egg wash. Cover loosely with plastic (I place the entire baking pan in a clean kitchen garbage bag). Set aside to rise until doubled in size, approximately 45 minutes. While it is rising, preheat the oven to 350.

Just before placing the braid in the oven, glaze it again with any remaining egg wash. Bake on the center rack of the oven for approximately 35 to 40 minutes, rotating it once after 20 minutes so that it bakes evenly. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for at least half an hour before slicing.

I made this formula this past weekend and it turned out very well. Also the intructions were easy to follow. If you have haven't tried it, you have to do so!

Variations are now crossing my mind... the dough could be used for cinnamon rolls or maybe sticky buns. Perhaps diced cooked apples in autumn. Or maybe persimmons?

There was a fermentation lesson imbedded in the experience: The Twin Cities are having a heat wave and the ac could only do so much... Boy an 85 degree room will really pop the yeast! The doubling took only an hour. I was afraid that the fast rise might harm the flavor, but it was fine.

Great idea Scarlett! This was very tasty! Although I think next time I will let my apples soften a little more before I fill the dough .. I prefer mine a little softer. Also, do you think the mixture could be a little wetter? Maybe my apples didn't render enough liquid?

Just finished filling/braiding my blueberry cream cheese braid. This has been on my list of must-do breads for some time now. I used a mascarpone cheese filling with powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, along with the blueberry filling. Added a little extra lemon because my Meyer lemon is so sweet. Also, a dash of the vanilla/citrus extract called fioria de sicilia was added to the blueberries.

I'll post pictures when it comes out of the oven. Looks like I did my braids a little thinner than Floyd's and I'm afraid I may have put in too much filling.

This is one of my favorite and most impressive recipes to make. I was reading my emails this morning and one was on a mummy pizza recipe. It was from Rhodes :- O ( store bought dough website) I'm planning to make the blueberry braid bread using this mummy style braid. If anyone is looking for " Halloween ideas" with your homemade bread, check out the Rhodes website.

I baked this with the apple filling instead of blueberry and it came out fantastic - someone commented that it takes like a danish. Now I barely taste the cream cheese. Did you skip the cream cheese or still include it?

All I have are frozen berries. Dare I try this with the frozen ones? I'm afraid they'll turn to mush when I make the filling. The dough has already been in the fridge for 2 nights so I'm already pushing my luck...
Luvs2bake

and they just came out of the oven. Absolutely gorgeous! One will go to my neighbors in the morning and the other one will come to work with me. I followed the instructions for cooking the filling and it worked just fine so I'm going to do it again for Christmas (at my daughter's) only for that one I'm going to use some morello cherries for the filling. Maybe I'll toast some almond slices and sprinkle them on top with a light dusting of powdered sugar. Can't wait to cut into this tomorrow. Thanks for the encouragement.

Having a post-Thanksgiving Brunch. I think I'm going to do one braid with ham and Swiss, one with blueberries and mascarpone. Wish I could add the mushrooms, they sound so good but I'm allergic. The pesto sounds tempting too but I think my basil might be done for the year. I'll check and see if there's enough for a small batch of pesto. Nothing like garden fresh pesto. I was thinking about a turkey and cranberry braid, too. Maybe too weird for some of my family but I know I would love it. I love turkey cranberry sandwiches!

This was my first attempt at a filled bread and boy did I learn many things! I made one braid recently but didn't realize that a slack dough would not work here until it was too late. My braid was disfigured as I transferred it from my work surface to the baking sheet for its final rise. I also forgot to let the cream cheese to come to room temperature so it remained as chunks even though I tried to melt it in the microwave. My mother described my finished loaf as Chinese BBQ pork because the egg wash created a very dark brown crust and my loaf looked like a monster. But I'll definitely try again; it tastes wonderful! I'll quarter the recipe next time since no one else wants to touch it (it's their loss) and bake for half the time. Thanks for the recipe!

Wow, this is a good loaf, just came out of the oven 3 hrs ago & half of it is gone! I only made 1 loaf though, too much for a family of 4, my girls loved it, so did hubby ! My first attempt in making a filled & braided loaf, it was very pretty ! As blueberry is rather costly, I used bluberry pie filling, had no problem with it, line a piece of baking paper under the dough before braiding it, had no problem transferring to a baking tray. Thanks for the great recipe !

Costco sells 4 lb frozen bags of a mixture of blueberries, rasberries, and marionberries that is very cheap and came out great when I made this braid. I also use them with cereal after defrosting a handful in the microwave.

hi
i tried above recepie but vain
tell me ture method for soft and delicious bun or bread
tellme what is differcence between dough & sponge above mention receipie. i tried both that was not good and kept raw.
i prepare both receipies and mix sponge paste and dough paste but no result better plz inform me ture and good recipies
abbas

You mention paste. Please don't forget to knead. If you do it by hand, working in flour will give you a more elastic and cooperative dough. Sponge is the part of the recipe that prepares the flour and the dough ingredients are then added to it. You might want to read through the "lessons" part of the site for general information. Hope to hear from you again and good luck! :) Mini Oven

hi abbas,
There are a number of good recipes on this site that u can try but it would be better if u begin with the lessons. At the top of this site there is a menu, select the lesson option n u will open to the place where Floydm has elaborated step by step lessons on bread baking. You can start with his bread recipe in the first lesson all quantities are given in detail.
Sponge in an initial mixture of flour(maida)yeast and water which is allowed to ferement for say an hour to 1 whole day(depends on your taste)and then more flour, water, oil, salt etc. are added to make it into a dough(something like kneaded dough used for making chapatis I mean atta). But this dough is more soft and elastic than atta. Then it is allowed to fermet(Khamirna) which is also called rising. After the first rise this dough is again punched down n the loaf shape is formed(or any other shape that one fancies)n allowed to rise again, when it is doubled it is baked. N WOW u have great bread.:)
Hope this was useful.
shi

If you can find yogurt, you can make your own. All you have to do is thicken it and that is done by pouring it into a filter of cloth or paper and hanging it up with a string and letting the wey or water drain off. Don't use drink yogurt, it will never get thick and does funny things to recipes too. After hanging 2 days, it is thick and tastes just like cream cheese and pretty much salt free! Less fat too! :) Mini Oven

Hi mini,
I saw on the Gourmetsleuth that I can substitute cream cheese by equal parts of Youghart and ricotta cheese. Since I make youghart everyday I dicided to use this substitute. Yesterday i made some ricotta cheese and youghart and right now both are draining in my fridge. So tonight I'll make the dough and in the morning will try the braid. :) Thanx for the advise.
shi

hi
i have read lesson but i have been failed to understand. plz give me ur basic receipie making bread. becasue there is too long lesson.
i will try my best to understand ur basic receipie.
below mentioned ingridents i know very well but i can not use their measuremen.
i am writting which is basic i hope u will amendment
2 cups flour, add 1 tablespoon yeast, 1 cup warm milk, 5 table spoon butter, 1/2 tea spoon, 1 egg, 2 table spoon suger.
all ingriednets mix well and let rise about 2 hour than bake about 45 mins.
i think that is best way for bread and bun.
if u have ur perfect receipies plz write, i want make my bread in home rather than purcahsed from market.
thanks alot 4 ur cooperation

Made it yet again to-day for my cafe, but this time I drizzled it with an icing flavoured with vanilla and cinnamon bark oil. Yummy and aromatic. Thanks again Floydm for your innovation. Anything else in your bag of tricks?

I made this braid using cream cheese but my braid did not retain its shape and was flat(it was soft and nice never the less). I made one braid using only half of the dough & the rest half is sitting in the freezer. So for my next attempt I want to correct my mistake. Could it be because of too much of filling or could the filling be runny(ha whats that)I mean it had more liquid than needed. Since I had made cream cheese by mixing drained home made youghart and cottage/ricotta cheese it is possible that I might have not drained them sufficiently? Any idea what I did wrong?
Shi

i have been making this bread several times now for the cafe so feel qualified to reply to you. Incidently I have reduced the amount of cornflour for the berry filling (using frozen blueberries) as it was seemed a bit too thick once the braid was baked.
I wondered whether a well drained ricotta would give a thicker product, if you can get it. I have been using a thick ricotta to-day (in NZ) for a cannelloni filling and thought I would experiment to see whether it can be used instead of cream cheese, as it seemed to have a similar consistency. Was your drained yoghurt/cottage chhese/ ricotta mixture thick enough to support the braid before it was baked?

Hi magie64
The braid had started distroting while it was proofing and while baking it became quite flat. So I think that u can say that the mixure was not think enough. Some of it also oozed out during baking.
shi

hi maggie,
Actually i spelled the word wrong its "distorting". it means to be mis-shaped or lost its original shape. While the braid was proofing it had stated expanding breadth wise insted of rising up thats why I got a flat braid.
Yesterday I used the leftover half dought to make a chocolate braid with semi sweet dark chocolate . This time is rose beautifully and retained its shape and was soooooooooo chocolatey. So I think the first one was mis-shaped due to excessive filling or the filling being watery.
Shi.

Hi Shi,
Sounds that "all's well that ends well'. Great! I will try out a chocolate centre next time that I will make the braid. I have a chocolate fudge recipe which I use as a centre for muffins ( a mixture of dark chocolate and cream) - can't remember the exact proportions - so thank you for the idea.

That sounds AMAZING- I'm just a little nervous to try; it sounds like you're using a ganache inside, but wouldn't it just melt in the oven and run all over the pan? Is there a trick to this that I don't know about? Please help- I'm drooling just thinking about it!

I put this together on Wednesday and yesterday morning we had this delicious pastry. Floydd your directions were excellent and I can honestly say they looked professional (which doesn't always happen in my case!} I used Sam's Club frozen mixed berries for one and the apple recipe listed above for the other. I sprinkled raw bron sugar on the to and then baked! They were beautiful and delicious! One question about the filling though, don't you think the cornstarch the corn starch in the mix makes the filling hard to heat with out a huge sticky mess or is this the way it is?? Also can I freeze this dough for later use? If so at what stage should I do so?

Hi Melana, you were probably asking the above of Floyddm - but in the meantime I will add that the "thick sticky mess" of a filling is the best consistency to match that of the cream cheese and strong enough to support the weight of the braid top. I have found that by reducing the cornflour a little - a strong but slightly moister paste results.

Floyddm, Thank you once again for this recipe which is more than ever popular in my cafe. I ran out of frozen blueberries so made the fruit filling by thickening Ocean Spray Whole Cranberry Sauce, and it was just as popular (and cheaper to make) as we export most of out blueberries to Japan now and the price of such is high on the domestic market.

Thanks so much for this fabulous recipe. I finally got around to baking the loaves this past Sunday. Kept one for my Mom and gave the other to a friend who is going through a depression right now. They were a huge hit! Your tutorial gave me the confidence to believe I could do it and I did!

I'm going to HAVE to give this one a try. I don't care for blueberries by themselves but I absolutely LOVE them with cream cheese!!!!!Thank you so much for posting this recipe and an extra thanks for the pics. I think it would have really hard to figure it out without the pics. [I love technology :o)]

My co-workers are getting used to freshed baked bread every Monday morning. They're very good at scarfing up my experiments - this is what they will be getting next Monday. I'm drooling on my keyboard now - the instructions look very simple and are printing right now. As always, thanks for this site and another great recipe Floyd! Trish

If you are making 2 smaller braids I would increase the filling recipe by half again. If you find that you have some leftover, just refrigerate it and add it to the next filling you will make (because the braid is so nice). The filling keeps for at leat 3 weeks in the fridge. Because I make it now and then for my cafe, I always make a large quantity of filling (about 1 L) and have it on tap. I do add a little more lemon juice as the original recipe can be a bit gluggy. I haven't frozen any braids but can't see how the filling would be affected - just the brioche type dough would age a little.

Just noticed some ambiguity in my above posting. I meant that the baked brioche type dough would age a bit with freezing, but a better idea would be to freeze the braid before the second proofing and later thaw and then let rise until it doubles in volume, then bake.

I've made these now three different times in five weeks with terrific results. Many people are astonished at how wonderful the presenation is on these, and are amazed that I made them.

One of the things I've been doing is experimenting with the filling. My fiver-year-old son loves blueberries, but my 11-year-old son hates them. The first batch was true to the receipe and wonderful. The second was made with a lemon pudding instead of blueberries. It was wonderful.

The third was by far the best. I took one of the first ones to my parents and my dad loved it, though he doesn't care for blueberries either. He went into his cupboard and handed me a can of raspberry pie filling with strict instructions to make it the next time I saw him.

At somepoint during the week before I made it, my wife was condensing packages of flour into a container and didn't notice the bag was WW as she started to dump them together. The third batch ended up around 25% WW to 75% AP. It turned out so very tasty that I might start doing that intentionally now. :)

I've been making two braids, and freezing one after I add the filling and do the braid. During the week, I take it out in the evening and let it thaw and raise to double and bake it. So far I've had no problems with that.

This was excellent. I also thought the option to use apples would be wonderful. I am wondering how this will freeze?????????? If it does not freeze well then I would try to half the recipe. Anyone tried that yet , please post and thanks. Really enjoyed the blueberries.

I am currently baking the braid using the apple filling as suggested by scarlett75! The mixture looks wonderful. My only idiotic move was putting the dough on wax paper when I was rolling it out .. I even read the above comments about NOT doing that and for some reason I still did it! I had a difficult time removing my braid from the wax paper but managed to do so and it still looks good! I'm not an experienced baker so this is all part of the learning process for me! I'll let you all know how it turns out and if it is nice looking enough will post a picture too. Thanks for the recipe!

Same here, Linda. I rolled out the dough, oblivious to the fact on how to get it to the pan. Next time I shall roll it out on parchment and move it intact vs. having it look more like a braided ball, lol

I made this over the weekend and I changed the Blue Berry to a Raspberry and cream cheese filling and the bread was wonderful. The kids really like a slice toasted up in the morning for breakfast. My loaf did not turn out as dark but I only did one egwash prior to cooking because I did not want it as dark but wonderful results and flavors. Thanks for the recipe and suggestion

i think this would work very well, but i'm certain it must be drained.

I get artisan ricotta from the farmer's market and it is much much different than the kind at the store; it has a very clean, fresh and vibrant taste and a texture similar to what you get w/ the cream cheese/egg mix.

I"m going to try it next time but I only had a little bit of ricotta left this week. YUm.

with a marzipan layer between dough and raspberries. That might make an interesting combination if the marzipan or almond paste is rolled out very thin. Would tend to soak up any excess juice too. I just happen to have everything and need a birthday treat for the weekend.

I stumbled across "The Bread Bible" last week. It was lying on my kitchen table with a note, "Can you use this?" At first, I blinked, I hadn't had my coffee yet. I glanzed up to see if there was a hole in the roof. Could this be the BB some loafers makes reference (reverence) to?

I soon discovered there are two books with the same title, different authors. I opened the book... all cups and no metric, so I'm not thrilled, but ever so often I pick it up to read. (I tend to start at the back of a book first...) There are hidden gems in the book, a few typos. It's a good book to start out on if you have a good imagination. Written discriptions are very good and just like most bibles there are no illustrations or pictures. Last night I found the Blueberry Braid, actually a Maple-Blueberry Whole Wheat Braid (page 298, paperback 1999, author Beth Hensperger) where half the flour is whole wheat.

Floyd, I like the changes you made in the recipe & the very helpfull photos too.

What a great bread!! The directions are "spot on" and the photographs are a great help for a novice baker like me. The flavors of the cheese, blueberries and the bread all work together. One does not overbear the other. Thanks Floyd

to the chorus praising this bread!. I made it for a family and friends brunch this Saturday and it got rave reviews. When boys in elementary school stop on their way out the door to say "Thanks for the awesome bread!', it's about as good a compliment as a baker can get.

Hi Paul,
They are pretty stunning. Congrats. I make the same often but add a little drizzled over lemon juice glaze or sometimes glaze flavoured with vanilla and a drop of cinnamon bark oil. Each is very compatible with the cream cheese and blue berries or raspberries. M

My dough is taking a very long time to double. This is the first time I used my KA to mix everything. I was under five minutes mixing time on setting 2, but could I have overmixed it? Should I just wait it out or start over?

I'm a big fan of lemon curd and modified the filling to add one tablespoon of lemon zest,three tablespoons of lemon juice, a couple tablespoons of mashed cottage cheese, and about a quarter cup of lemon curd to the cream cheese base. I topped this with fresh raspberries (prepared as in the original blueberry recipe)and added a ribbon of lemon curd on the top of the filling before folding the braid. I don't have photos, so you will just have to take my word for it....if you love lemon, as I do this is a must try variation.

I went a little crazy and made a double batch just to try it out. Two loaves had the original blueberry (yum) and the other two had raspberry. I don't know which was better. I only made them three days ago and they are all but gone! Thanks for the recipe...this one is definitely a keeper in my house!

I bought some blueberry preserves to make this but used up all my cream cheese for something else so I make a savory version of this bread with cheddar cheese. It is an amazing bread and definately a keeper. It's airy and soft. I used butter milk and a 1/2 cup of wheat flour in mine.

But yes, I make filled & braided loaves all the time. Sometimes with sweet fruit & cheese fillings, as you show so beautifully here. Sometimed with savory fillings for brunch: scrambled eggs mixed with chopped ham, cheese, spinach and tomatoes and sauteed mushrooms. Sometimes for lunch I've filled them with chicken, broccoli, and alfredo sauce.

I've also made them for dinner: a taco seasoned meat filling, little bit of refried beans, cheese and so on (those are served with salsa and sour cream.) And the pizza ones are self-explanatory: pizza sauce and cheese with meat/veggie toppings of choice.

I used to have a catering business and these were much in demand. I also worked as the head cook at my church camp for more than a decade and we had some version of these at least once a week. I LOVED making them.

All I can say,is OH! OH--OH!!! Floyd,I made these,after seeing the recipe(thought about it all night),and it turned out wonderful,I guessed?? They made two braids about 16 inches long,and 5 inches wide,and it seemed the pan did slide about 3 feet,across the bar,as the vaccum pulled ,as the braids went in pieces,toward mouths!! Only 1 -7 inch piece made it through,and the next morning it was gone.Thank you so much!! I went and got 8 gallons,for the freezer the next day,and will get plenty more,to freese.Thanks Again,Southern Miss.That is,Jim-49

The first time i baked this bread, I replaced yeast with about 120 grs of 100% hydratation sourdough and worked well...the second also chanced the filling: instead of bluberries I used canned peach...not bad, the result...Paolo

Hi everyone, in about 30 seconds came to my mind a possible filling: a creamy blue cheese like Roquefort (or what about gorgonzola)? with crunched nuts and pears lightly cooked (lets say about 10 mins) with a good red wine, sugar (about the quantity I'd be careful cause pears could be quite sweets) and a bit of cinnamon...any comment is welcome, better if positive :-) Happy baking and happy day . Paolo

I skipped the cooking and mixed it up with the butter and lemon juice and added splashes of the milk beating with a mixer until I thought it the right consistency. I spread it onto the dough and then added my berry filling. It bakes to a soft cake like filling which is excellent! I used half a recipe because I made only one braid. No runs!

Dough for One Braid in Metric (conversion using metric cups where one cup water = 250g) See head of page directions.

Looks quite good to us. Baking or cooking is also a personnal thing. You make a soup with everything you have available or you make it simple...So, with the black seeds (?) and a nice golden color...a cup of coffee, we are sure that it is very good. Next time, you may try another concoction, the joy of baking, surprises,

This recipe is fantastic! I'm not a huge baker, but wanted to give something homemade to neighbors and friends for Christmas this year. So I made these braids with different types of jam as the filling. With the second batch, I quartered the recipe and turned each into a wreath - awesome! Thanks!

I think recipes and techniques like this are the ingredients that empower aspiring bakers such as myself. This was a recipe that made me feel as if I could learn and execute any aspect of bread creations....I love the way this presented on my Holiday table....Thanks so much

Well, when you let dough ferment (rise) very slowly, it improves the flavor of the resulting bread, and overnight refrigeration produces such a slow fermentation. This is more important with breads that have fewer fats and flavorings added. I'm not sure how important it is to this particular recipe or what effect it has on the elasticity, etc., of the dough and would defer to others with more baking experience, but if you were pressed for time I think you could probably skip that step and replace it with a second rise instead. Anyway, with a little advanced planning such overnight rises are not at all inconvenient, IMO. In fact, it breaks up your workload so that on the second day you have more time for making other dishes for a meal.

Incidentally, I have just tried this recipe (thanks, Floyd!), but cut the butter in half, and it was still excellent, still plenty rich enough. I used strawberries, cooked just like in the original recipe, but had to add a bit more water since the strawberries don't give up water the way the blueberries do; I also reduced the corn starch 25%, and could have easily cut it to half. It made a lovely bread for breakfast the next day!

My family is so impressed with the Easter brunch I served this morning.The blueberry bread dough and my overnight French toast was all made last night so there was little to do this morning. This morning I quickly finished the blueberry bread, baked the French toast and scrambled eggs and ham. This blueberry bread went over very well. For something that tastes so awesome it's sure easy to make and it's so impressive looking.Thanks, Kathy.

I too served the blueberry loaf for Easter brunch along with a second loaf filled with Apricot filling. Both were a smashing success. I had made them on the Monday before Easter, baked them both, wrapped them in cling wrap and put them in a plastic bag and froze them. I did this because we were going out of town for Easter and needed to transport them. So they thawed out on Friday and we served them on Sunday morning. I was a little apprehensive about the freezing part, but it worked out fine (just leave them wrapped until you serve). Everyone made a comment about how beauitful the loaves were, did I really make them myself? If you are even just thinking about making this bread, do it! It is wonderful.

I just finished making this about 10 minutes ago. I was able to get three very large loaves out of the recipe. I have no idea what I did differently, but there is a ton of bread in my house right now :)

Maybe it was the active yeast instead of the instant?

I made one just chocolate, one with cream cheese, strawberry compote, and chocolate, and one just cream cheese and strawberry.

The man is so happy he doesn't know what to do with himself- definately making this again :)

These are just wonderful to look at, and will bet taste yummy too! However I am still having problems with pictures on these postings, half of them don't ever fill out, so am looking at the top 1/4 or less of a picture.

I can certainly see many braided loaves in my future, and will try all the fillings given, and any more I can dream up! Including fresh picked Saskatoons, which I can usually find easily on the road edges, and they are delicious, am not fond of blueberries, but do like huckleberries which also grow wild around here, will just have to try them all.

Thanks for posting this. I made a half batch (one braid) and it turned out perfectly. The only modifications I made were adding more cream cheese to the cheese mix, and a bit of water to the blueberry mix to aid boiling. I used frozen blueberries, so maybe that's why they didn't boil on their own? Anyway, it was delicious, thank you.

OMG i just made this and it is sooooo good!! THANK YOU it turned out just like the picture. i am rather new to making bread but am really good at it in my opinion... im going to try this with a sourdough starter for the sponge. or maybe like a stromboli with with tomato sause and meat or veggies? i duno but i love how the braid looks n the bread has a very nice flavor! its been out of the oven for 15 min and half a loaf is already gone :) so thank you for this resipe and all the others i will think of from this one! :D

This was a wonderful bread, very light. I used something new to me called Hungarian flour. It turned out beautifully, although I would let it rise a shorter period next time, I think I overdid the rising a little.

However, no harm was done to the taste! I shall certainly try this again with variations upon the theme of blueberries. I bet it would make a wonderful cinnamon roll.

A huge plus for me was using parchment paper. I rolled out the dough on the parchment paper and was able to bake both loaves on one large cookie sheet after trimming off the excess paper around the edges.

I would like to try this with the wild blackberries we have around here. The only thing I'm worried about is if the blackberrries will go bad in the bread. I've tried keeping them in the fridge before and in 24 hours, they're growing mold. I know they can be frozen, but do you guys think that after the blackberries are baked, they'd be OK in the bread for a couple days without going moldy? I don't bake with fruits very often and I'm not sure how baking affects them.

My vine rarely gives me all ripe berries at the same time. As I pick them, I quickly wash them under running water and let them drip dry, then drop them into a plastic container in my freezer. When I have enough, I make dough for the braid. That way they don't get moldy. With a little sugar the cooked berries keep longer, also in the bread.

I've never had a braid last longer than two days but if you wanted to stretch this out over a longer period, you might want to cut and freeze individual portions for later. This time of year, with the cool weather, a braid should last about 5 days covered with a towel in a cool room without any problems.

A lemon curd and a mixed berry and cream cheese - both were delicious.

I think I may have been a bit rough with the dough, as it kept rising after I put it in the fridge - I had to punch it down again. Consequently, I didn't get quite as much rise the second time (although the coldness of my apartment can't have helped).

Regardless of it's flatness, they both tasted great and went down a treat with my colleagues (I had to offload it so that I didn't eat even more than I did!).

I love the amount of berries in Sarah's above - will definitely put in twice as much next time!

After having drooled over Floyd's Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid for a long time, I finally made it yesterday. I made half a batch and am glad I did. I would recommend at least 3 braids if you make a whole batch. The half batch was so big it was hanging of both ends of my 15" sheet pan. That being said, after breakfast this morning there is a big piece missing! It was great.

Changes and observations.

The dough was too wet using my 120 gr/cup flour measuring, so I had to add quite a bit of flour (and I am no longer afraid of sticky dough, but this was thick batter).

I mixed it in the bread machine using the dough cycle but didn't let it finish because the dough felt done.

I used 1/2 of a 21 oz can of blueberry pile filling.

Didn't do the overnight so I let the sponge ferment for a couple of hours and then mixed/kneaded the dough, let it more than double, then filled and shaped, rise again for about 45 min, then baked.

I've been drooling over these pictures and wanted to try making it this weekend but dope! Forgot the lemons when I went grocery shopping. So instead, I threw together a black sesame paste custard (black sesame, butter, eggs, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla extract) and used that as a filling without the cream cheese base. Also covered the top with white sesame seeds before baking. I reduced the butter by 1/3 because of Dragonbone's comment about the bread being plenty rich when the butter reduced. I made half the recipe for 1 braid.

The bread came out soooo good and it was so easy to make too! The butter from the sesame paste custard melted into the bread and made the bread buttery moist. I can't wait to try this recipe again with lemon curd, blueberry or apple filling. Thanks Floyd for sharing this delicious recipe.

I made this bread last week and brought to work. They all loved it. It's so yummy and rich without being too rich.

I ran out of bread flour so I used the all-purpose flour instead. It worked well but I think bread flour would have helped the bread structure more and gave better gluten development. The bread still tasted nice nonetheless.

I reduced the recipe by half for one braid bake (and I forgot to reduce the egg wash amount in cream cheese filling, again, a minor disaster but it still worked).

Will the braid be affected if I leave the dough in the fridge for two nights... or for 24 hours? This looks amazing... and since I am making rolls for Christmas Eve, I want to make this for Christmas dinner. I'm not home all day on Christmas Ever except for the morning, so, again... Will the braid be affected if I leave the dough in the fridge for 2 nights or 24 hours?

I am thinking it's about time I learn to braid my bread, and these pictures are sure making me hungry! I will be making a couple with fruit and cream cheese filling for a Christmas party at my husbands workplace. For many years now I have made a traditional Norwegian bread called Julekaka, and am thinking of making it into a braid just to see how it looks. I'll post a picture or two when I get them done, unless of course they end up in the "Ugly Loaves" thread!

I've had this recipe printed and filed in my recipe folder for *years* and I finally made it for Thanksgiving. I doubled the dough to make two pans of cinnamon rolls and two blueberry braids. (Yes, it all went with us. My husband has a big family - 80+ people at Thanksgiving dinner.) I was really impressed with my creation - the braided loaves turned out absolutely gorgeous! The cinnamon rolls actually disappeared first (what's wrong with those people?) but I thought the recipe was phenomonal. I'll be making it again!

I'd love a recipe for the lemon or chocolate filling, too. Can you just use any pie-filling recipe or does it need to be thicker? (I don't make many pies!)

I made a cranberry braid today to take to a party. The fruit filling was 2 cups fresh cranberries + 1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup water. I forgot to add cornstarch, but since cranberries usually thicken up pretty well, it was ok. I boiled it for about 7 minutes and let it cool overnight before shaping the braid. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. It tastes great!

This is a great recipe! I actually doubled this recipe to make 4 braids, some for friends and some for a christmas party we went to. I found that the first two braids I made were hard to handle, because they were so large. I used these for the party, but I split the other half of the recipe into 4 smaller braids which worked much better for me. They turned out great and were a wonderful treat, since I prefer things that aren't quite so sweet and these weren't sickly sweet like donuts.

I bought pie filling canned from the store, so I had apple, blueberry and cherry. Each can made 1 big braid, and 2 smaller braids, so I had leftover and when the original braids were gone I made another batch. First I changed the recipe just a little bit, by using a tablespoon of honey to my yeast/water at the beginning and then using splenda in the dough and cream cheese filling. This I made into 4 small braids again, stretching them lengthwise and using my baguette pan I was able to make long thin braids, and my french bread pan I made shorter thicker braids.

In the last couple weeks I have also used the same method of braiding to make small pocket sandwiches. I have a supply of pepperoni pizza braids, made with whole wheat dough and ranch dressing (doesn't like tomato sauce) for my son. I have also used it to make hot dog & cheese sandwiches, plus mini braids for 2 to 3 pieces for my husband and myself. I have found that it works well for these and allows them to vent through the braids so it doesn't blow out the sides. I use the baguette pan and make two to three per section, so I can make 4 to 6 pretty easily.These are the original braids that were hard to handle, plus the pizza pocket sandwiches. I think I have pictures of the smaller ones, but can't find them right now.

We are in the middle of a blizzard here but making this braid again, only this time with almond filling, created a heavenly sense of home for my family! Yes I used a recipe for almond filling meant to fill croissants. I also did not have time to do the second rise in the fridge, just left it on the counter. But the end result was even better I thought! The almond filling leaked a bit but no harm done! The baked leaked almond actually tasted like almond cookies! Now all we need is a snow day tomorrow! For a photo: http://bit.ly/grWyyV

I found this website for the first time on Friday, 2/4/11, bought the ingredients on 2/5/11 and mixed it that evening, and baked it this morning. Absolutley delicious! Mine aren't as picture perfect as some shown in previous posts, but the texture and flavor are unbeatable. I'll definitely make this again in the near future.

So i just wanted to let you know how much i enjoyed making this braid. I am a very novice baker. I have made it twice now and both times it turned out perfect. Im sure this dough isnt fool proof, but darn it has been incredibly consistant for me. My husband loved it. I made the standard blueberry and a pumpkin, both with creamcheese as well. My husband posted a picture of my braid on facebook and people have been asking me to make them on. I thank you for all of you information, I believe that helps the success rate.

Thanks so much for the recipe. It will now be a regular in my repertoir. I tried it this weekend using strawberries in one and chocolate in the second. They both looked and tasted beautifully delicious. The chocolate one however managed to boil out all the ganache I'd put into it. However I had lots of ganache left over so I could just pour it over one or both.

Next time I'll do the blueberry filling and one with blackberries. I found the dough could really be cut into 3 portions. Perhaps I allowed it to rise more than necessary but they were huge.

I am just about to put this braid together, but I don't understand one thing... in the instructions it says

"Once your filling has cooled off, take the dough out of the refrigerator and gently deflate it. Divide it into two pieces. Use a rolling pin to shape each piece into a thin (1 cm.) rectangle. Spread your fillings in the center of the dough....."

After you divide the dough it only refers to 1 braid from then on. Are the blueberry and cream cheese fillings supposed to fill 1 or 2 braids? I don't want it to be to thin.

I made one loaf, half apples, half berries, to see which I want to make again for an upcoming visit by friends. They were soooo wonderful! We ate it up faster than I thought possible.

I made the slices a bit long, or thin or something, and ended up with a more complex braid - should have gone back to look at the photos. It was still beautiful and yummy, but next time I'll stick with the original way since I like the looks a bit better. I also made more of the cream cheese filling and was glad I did so, it is so tasty!

This was not a particularly tricky recipe for a novice like me, yet the results were amazing.

Thank you for sharing this, and thanks to the one who shared the apple version as well!

I always have a problem with berry/lemon fillings - under filling layer my dough became soggy, "wet" and I want that down part of my dough will be fluffy and good baked. . How it's possible to solve this problem?

I finally got up the nerve to try this recipe and to my surprise, was not difficult. I had this batch of dough on the go when Floyd posted his raspberry version. As raspberries and blueberries are my favourite field berries and are (almost) always in my fridge, I used a half and half mix of berries. HEAVEN!

The only problem I have with this recipe is I can't stop eating the stuff . . .

I rolled the dough out thinner than the recommended 1 cm, but it didn't hurt the final result.

Ready for the oven.

Enduring the cooling process.

Great recipe! I will now have to try some of the many fine variations in this thread. Thanks for sharing!

This recipe has become a family favorite for Easter, Christmas, random Monday mornings...lol! Here is today's loaf- I used blackberry preserves since that's what I had on hand at the moment and used a little too much but otherwise it was fabulous!

I need to work on my braiding skills but not too terribly bad for a first timer. I made 3 loaves as some others mentioned doing. I had to add quite a bit of flour to the dough and my dough ended up weighing in at 3lbs so I made 3 1lb loaves. Its in the oven now, I can't wait to taste it. Thanks for the awesome recipe. :)

These braids look extremely delicious. I am not the biggest fan of cream cheese, I would definitely try this recipe but make a lemon curd instead of the cream cheese filling. Since the blueberries already have lemon in them, the pairing would be beautiful during the spring and summer seasons. For the egg wash, you used a combination of milk and eggs. I have found that while using dairy in an egg wash, the milk solids burn faster causing uneven browning. The best egg wash recipe I have tested and used is 1 egg yolk, 2 whole eggs, and a dash of sea salt, whisk aggressively until completely smooth, as it sits it will turn a vibrant orange color. It has worked perfectly every time!

We've bought the fundraising Butterbraids while my son was in school and I know they are not the healthiest of treats so when I saw this recipe I just had to try it. All I can say is incredible!!! And so much better than those fundraising things. Two thumbs up from the hubby!!! Here are my pix:

I meet on Fridays with a group to knit....I think I'll be making this for the next get-together! Thanks again!

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